NBA Finals Lakers vs. Celtics: Boston Survives L.A.'s Late Rally For 2-0 Lead

Two words describe my feelings right now about the NBA Finals: cautious optimism.

After the 108-102 Game Two win, the Boston Celtics have taken a 2-0 series lead over the Los Angeles Lakers and are now half-way to achieving the goal of capturing Title No. 17.

Last night, Boston led 83-61 after the third quarter.

The Lakers, who only scored 42 points the entire first half, responded with a furious rally scoring 41 points in the fourth quarter alone. 

Boston, though, survived.

Paul Pierce had 28 points and eight assists. I think his knee is limiting his mobility slightly. That would be a factor more on the defensive end than on offense.  Pierce benefits though because for majority of the time, he only has to guard jump shooters in Vladimir Radmanovic and Sasha Vujacic.

In addition to Pierce, the Celtics had contributions from a number of places on their roster. 

KG had his 13th double-double of the post-season with 17 points and 14 boards.  Ray Allen added 17 points and Rajon Rondo dished out 16 assists against only two turnovers.  As a team, Boston had 31 assists on 36 field goals made.

And of course the name everyone was talking about afterwards, even if the Lakers' coach feigned as if he didn't know how to properly pronounce it, was Leon Powe. 

Powe is one of my favorite Celtics' because of how hard he always plays. In 15 minutes, Powe nearly outscored the entire Laker bench by himself with 21 points (Lakers’ bench had 23).

Yesterday, I had a conversation with a few friends about what I think about the 2-3-2 format. Basically, what I said was that if the road team can grab one of the first two games, 2-3-2 is a major advantage for that team.

But if the home team can protect their court in the first two games, 2-3-2 works to that team’s advantage. It doesn’t matter what teams are playing or where, it is never easy to defeat a team three-straight times.

A few hours later, the Celtics went out and protected home court.

Now they go to play three in L.A. 

If Boston wins just once in L.A., that would mean that for Boston to lose the series, the Celtics would have to lose both Games Six and Seven at home--or one more loss in Boston than the Celtics have all post-season in 13 games thus far at the T.D. Banknorth Garden.

Although, if the Celtics have the attitude they only need one in L.A., they will lose all three. Boston must remain hungry and approach each game as if it is a must-win.

Entering the finals, the Lakers had won 12 of 15 playoff games. They definitely can take four of five.  If Boston thinks for one second this series is over, as quickly as the Lakers got back into the game last night, this series can be tied 2-2.

Watching the Laker comeback last night nearly gave me a heart attack. Following a Powe dunk and a KG jumper, Boston led 95-71 with 7:54 remaining. L.A. then went on a 31-9 run and were within two, 104-102 with 38-seconds to play.

Looking back now, knowing the Celtics survived, I am glad it happened. For the Celtics to hang on, they still have the benefit of the win, but they also saw with their own eyes just how explosive this Laker team can be.  Almost blowing a 24-point lead in the fourth quarter should eliminate the possibility of the Celtics becomg overconfident with their 2-0 lead.

Had Boston lost, it would have been the greatest collapse in NBA playoff history.  Blowing a 24-point lead might have been too demoralizing to ever come back from (see the collapse of the 2006 Dallas Mavericks after blowing Game Three of the finals against the Heat).

Boston can also look at its own recent history if it needs any more assurance that this series is far from over. The Celtics led the Hawks 2-0, but still needed seven games to close out the series. That pattern repeated itself the following series against the Cavs.

The Celtics are playing much better now than they were earlier in the playoffs, but Kobe and the Lakers are a far superior opponent than the Hawks or Cavs.

Free throws received much attention after the game last night. Boston plays tough, physical defense and the officials let them play (I imagine if I were a Laker fan, I might have phrased that slightly different).

I fully expect the Lakers to come out as aggressive as possible in Game Three and force the officials, with their play, to blow the whistle when beforehand there were no calls.

The Laker coach said after the game he had never seen anyting like what he just watched, in reference to the free throw differential in the game where Boston made 28 more attempts than the Lakers.  The Laker coach's memory obviously isn't what it used to be, as it was just back in Game Two of the Laker-Jazz series when L.A. had 27 more free throw attempts than its opponent.

It was also the fifth time in the last seven games the Lakers failed to get out of the teens in free throw attempts, after shooting at least 24 in each of their first 10 post-season games this year.

Free throw attempts alone do not tell the entire story though. The Lakers rely for a chunk of their offense on Kobe creating open jump shots for his teammates. Many of the shots the Lakers failed to knock down in Boston, will likely fall in Los Angeles.

Going forward, I am optimistic because the Celtics are two wins away from a championship with five games to play; but with three straight games in L.A., Kobe Bryant, and the talent of this Lakers’ team, I remain cautious.